LOST - Because You Left and The Lie

Wow.

LOST returned with a bang last night. The main event was preceded an hour-long recap of seasons 1-4 which provided no new info other than the fact that Sun THINKS Jin died in the freighter explosion (meaning perhaps he's actually still alive?) and that the writers may finally explain the four-toed statue (Apparently people have been attracted to the island throughout the ages).

I have no how anyone who hasn't been faithfully following this series for the last four years was supposed to be brought up to speed in one hour--but there you have it.

The first episode of season five opened with a clock flipping over to 8:15 am (as in Oceanic 815, get it?) and someone putting a vinyl LP on a stereo (Willie Nelson's Shotgun Willie) which was very reminiscent of the opening of season two with Desmond down in the Hatch (Remember the Hatch? Ah, good times--good times...). Later Daniel Faraday uses the analogy of a record playing--and skipping--to explain the time shifts that occur after the island's move.

The first two installments of season five had the story flipping back and forth as well--on the island, off the island, time shifting into the past and future.

Trippy.

It seems like this season will be all about the time travel--starting with Marvin Candle (aka Dr. Chang) explaining the massive energy beneath the Orchid station which will act as a time machine. "What--we're going to go back and kill Hitler?" jokes a construction worker. No, there are RULES he is told.

The notion of the RULES are reiterated by Daniel (who pops up in the past as a Dharma worker). Those left on the island have been "dislodged" from time--but whether they are in the past or in the future, the RULES are you cannot change time. Whatever happens, happened. The only one immune to the RULES is Desmond who is special according to Daniel. When Charlotte's nose starts bleeding (indicative of someone in desperate need of a Constant as we learned last season), Daniel urges past Desmond to seek out his mother at Oxford after he gets off the island.

Desmond awakes and tells Penny, "It wasn't a dream. It was a memory." And pulling up anchor on the Searcher, they head for Oxford.

Locke is doing some time shifting of his own. At one point he ends up right when Mr. Eko's brother's plane crash lands in the trees. (Do you think this means they might bring Boone back? Ian Somerhalder...swoon!) He is shot by the still living Ethan and later told by Richard Alpert "What comes around, goes around..." Alpert attends to his wound, gives him a compass and tells him that the only way to save the island is to get your friends back. When Locke asks how he does that, Alpert says "You're gonna have to die, John."

Which is exactly what happened at the end of last season. But is Locke really dead? When Ben tells Jack he needs to take his body somewhere safe, Jack asks "He's dead, isn't he?" That's what I'd like to know...Ben finds a way to keep him from "going bad" courtesy of butcher shop run by what appears to be an Other. My guess is that Locke gets revived once back on the island...

The second hour focused on The Lie--the story concocted by the Oceanic Six to keep the others left behind safe from Charles Widmore. Sayid springs Hurley from the mental institution after killing the guy who had been staking it out. "You know maybe if you ate more comfort food you wouldn't have to go around shooting people," Hurley tells him.

In reference to Locke's alias "Jeremy Bentham," Hurley muses, "I need a cool code name."

I heart Hurley.

Indeed, The Lie was pretty much the Hugo Reyes show--with Hurley and an unconscious Sayid on the run from unknown enemies. At one point, Hurley is pulled over by a cop who turns out to be the deceased Ana Lucia. After admonishing Hurley to get a change of clothes and his act together, she tells him "Libby says Hi" and disappears.

In the classic LOST recurring theme of path-crossing, Kate pulls into the parking lot of the convenience store as Hurley and Sayid are leaving. Kate is on the run again after lawyers show up at her door wanting samples of her and Aaron's blood. While she is figuring out where to go next, her cell phone rings. She heads to a hotel and takes an elevator to the 31st floor with Aaron asking "Can I push the button?" (Again, a reference to season two and the every 108 minutes button pushing...)

Anyone surprised that the person she ended up meeting with was Sun? I didn't think so.

Kate confides to Sun about the lawyers saying, "Somebody knows we're lying." "They just want Aaron," Sun tells her.

Locke's special, Desmond's special and Aaron's special. Sigh. I wish I was special...

Before arriving in L.A., Sun is detained by the powerful Charles Widmore. She confirms to him that they have the same agenda--to kill Benjamin Linus.

Back on the island, they're not only dealing with time shifts but flaming arrows. Ah, Frogurt--we barely knew ya. But ya gotta know if wardrobe outfits you in a red shirt, you're toast. How appropriate to be toasted by a flaming arrow to the chest. The survivors scatter but Juliet and Sawyer are captured by some angry Brits wanting to know what they're doing on THEIR island. Widmore's people, perhaps? Just as one is about to chop off one of Juliet's hands, he takes a knife to the chest.

John Locke and his killer knife-throwing skills to the rescue...

Hurley ends up back home and convinces his Dad to take the still unconscious Sayid to Jack. Jack is able to revive Sayid whose well-honed fight or flight skills kick in immediately as he tries to strangle Jack. Sayid was pretty bad-ass throughout the show. Did you catch how he dispatched one of the bad guys? Death by dishwasher--pretty gruesome!

At home, Hurley breaks down and tells him mom the truth about the island and the smoke monster and the Others in a 30-second monologue that pretty much covered the hour-long recap we sat through earlier. His mom tells him, "I believe you. I don't understand you, but I believe you."

Later, Ben shows up at Hurley's home. "Sayid warned me about you!" Hurley tells him. Ben tells him that they all want the same thing--to go back to the island. "If you come with me, you won't ever have to lie again." "Never, Dude!" Hurley replies and races out of the house and gives himself up to the police.

This leaves Ben in quite a pickle. Meeting with the mysterious Mrs. Hawking--who appears to be doing calculations to locate the relocated island--he explains that he lost Hurley. She tells him he has 70 hours to get it together.

Hmm--is season five going to take place (more or less, not accounting for time shifts, etc.) over the course of seventy hours? That should be interesting....

So far it looks like they're pulling out all the stops as they wrap this series up.

You can check out recaps of Because You Left and The Lie at Lostpedia, pore over screencaps at Dark UFO or read Liz Kelly and Jen Chaney's Dueling Analyses at washingtonpost.com's Celebritology.